NEWSLETTER
CUBS LINEUP — The Chicago Cubs took Game 1 against the Houston Astros in convincing fashion last night. So tonight, they’ll go for the quick series win against Spencer Arrighetti at Wrigley Field (it’d be a good idea to win this game with Justin Verlander looming tomorrow and Cody Bellinger joining Justin Steele and Seiya Suzuki on the IL).
Jameson Taillon is taking the ball for his second start of the season, and here’s the Cubs lineup that’ll stand behind him.
Chicago Cubs Lineup:
- Nico Hoerner, 2B
- Mike Tauchman, CF
- Ian Happ, LF
- Michael Busch, 1B
- Chris Morel, 3B
- Dansby Swanson, SS
- Matt Mervis, DH
- Yan Gomes, C
- Alexander Canario, RF
How can you not laugh.
Mike Tauchman is the Cubs two-hole hitter, Ian Happ is back to batting third, and Matt Mervis is in the Cubs lineup. What is this, June 2023?
All jokes aside, Craig Counsell doesn’t really have much of a choice right now. You’re probably not going to take Nico Hoerner out of the leadoff spot right now, where he seems to be comfortably producing, Mike Tauchman is two healthy outfielders away from rejoining the bench, and Ian Happ has to bat somewhere. Third makes as much sense as anywhere else against a righty like Arrighetti.
Let’s just hope Michael Busch shakes himself out of his mini-funk and the “youngsters”, Matt Mervis and Alexander Canario, are ready to step up (Morel is actually younger than Mervis and less than a year older than Canario, but you know what I mean).
With so many guys missing on the IL, every win banked is incredibly valuable right now. Let’s see what this group can do.
Houston Astros Lineup:
- Jose Altuve, 2B
- Alex Bregman, 3B
- Yordan Alvarez, LF
- Kyle Tucker, RF
- Yainer Diaz, DH
- Jeremy Peña, SS
- Jon Singleton, 1B
- Victor Caratini, C
- Jake Meyers, CF
Pitching Matchup:
Chicago Cubs: Jameson Taillon, RHP
Jameson Taillon’s season debut went well enough against the Miami Marlins last week at Wrigley Field, with just one earned run on three hits and no walks over 5.0 IP. He was efficient enough to go deeper into that game than we thought, but he still managed just 73 pitches overall. Ideally, he’ll be good to go over 80 pitches today, but we’ll see. One thing working against him is that the Marlins (85 wRC+ vs RHP) are a far worse offense versus righties than the Astros (109 wRC+).
And while Jordan Wicks was able to shut the Astros down last night, and they’ve been struggling to win games all season, that’s still a formidable group of hitters, particularly at the top of the order. Another 7 runs from the Cubs lineup wouldn’t hurt.
Houston Astros: Spencer Arrighetti, RHP
Spencer Arrighetti is a 24-year-old rookie right-hander (and top-5 organizational prospect for the Astros) who’s two starts into his big league career. However, those two starts have not gone particularly well (combined): 7.0 IP, 11H, 9ER, 5BB, 8K. Now, to be fair, his second outing (4.0 IP, 4H, 2ER, 2BB, 5K) was a lot better than the first and against a better team (Braves). But looking at his minor league history, I can see that Arrighetti has always had issues with command/walks, which doesn’t bode well when he’s going up against this particularly patient Cubs lineup.
Broadcast Info:
Chicago Cubs (14-9) at Houston Astros (7-17) at 6:40 pm CT – Marquee Sports Network, 670 The Score
